Explaining Polarization and its Dimensions in Nigeria - African ...

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conditions makes the country susceptible to disintegration if the regional differences in standards of living continue to grow. This could become a more intense political issue when spatial inequality is perceived to be related to discrimination against particular groups of citizens such as rural farmers (compared to urban residents), ethnic minorities concentrated in remote areas, migrants in certain districts, or religious groups in particular regions (Shorrocks and Wan 2004). This evidence underscores the need to go beyond conventional measures of inequality if concern is about political feasibility and continuity of reform policies as currently initiated in Nigeria. So, the search light has been focused on the extent to which income inequality has been socially embedded in Nigeria. Economic inequality can be said to be socially embedded when the rich and the poor are distinguished not only by their wealth, but also by their language, ethnicity, race or other social characteristic (Zhang and Kanbur, 2001). The conjecture that motivates research on this phenomenon of polarization is that contrasts among homogeneous groups can cause social tension. One of the earliest works on polarization in Nigeria was done by Aighokhan, (2000) who showed concern and alerted the country on the danger of disappearing middle class. He remarked that any government interested in continuity and the sustainability of its policies must show serious concern to what is happening to the middle income group. Of recent, Awoyemi et al., (2009) reported the case of emerging and increasing level of bi-polarization resulting from persistent increase in identification component of polarization and the growing proportion of Nigerian poor at the bottom of the country income distribution. This phenomenon is emerging in Nigeria as a result of some observed specific characteristics of different groups. This paper aims to give insight into the key underlying factors fueling the sense of diversity that may lead to social tension and conflicts in Nigeria. Toward this, we analyze the influence of 4
socio-economic, demographic and occupational group variables in explaining the level of polarization in Nigeria. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section two presents rationale for the study while section 3 discusses the source and types of data used. Section 4 considers related literatures followed by section 5 which deals with the model and method of its estimation. Section 6 presents and discusses the results while section 7 concludes. 2.0 Rationale for the study This study underwrites its policy relevance in developing economy of Nigeria in which economic status and social categories like ethnic groups and religion are strongly correlated and which can be described as polarized along these dimensions. First, in order to implement appropriate institutional settings and policies that will reduce the feeling of grievance; the policy makers must understand the nature of the underlying factors fueling sense of diversity. This paper gives insight into this and provides information that could guide the formulation of a more egalitarian and peaceful society as well as policies aimed at helping lagging regions. This will in particular influence the distribution of infrastructural facilities in the country. Second, given inequality, polarization measurements can be used to judge tax reform policy (Rodríguez et al., 2005). Brilliant efforts are currently been made on tax reform in Nigeria. Results from studies like this would give insight into the groups which bear the burden or benefits of government spending or tax regime. These will in-turn inform our policy makers on tax regime to adopt - progressive or regressive tax option thus, guide future deliberations on tax issues in Nigeria. Thus, the paper is set to analyze how characteristics other than income explain the level of polarization in Nigeria. 5
Page 1 and 2: Explaining Polarization and its Dim
Page 3: 1.0 Introduction Nigeria is a popul
Page 7 and 8: cut across different geographical b
Page 9 and 10: Following the notion of “alienati
Page 11 and 12: with μ ( ) y ay ( ) ≡ + y2 Fy (
Page 13 and 14: ax ( ) is the alienation component
Page 15 and 16: It is evident from table 2 that rel
Page 17 and 18: Table 2: Decomposition of DER index
Page 19 and 20: Table 5: Decomposition of DER index
Page 21 and 22: References Abdelkrim Araar and Awoy

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